


The Day Before the Beginning

by KaeStela



Series: As Long as We Remember [1]
Category: Starbound (Video Game)
Genre: Fluff, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-07
Updated: 2018-03-07
Packaged: 2019-03-28 06:15:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13898025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaeStela/pseuds/KaeStela
Summary: One day before the events of As Long as We Remember (can be read as a stand-alone)





	The Day Before the Beginning

“Well now, would ya get a load of this?” Isobu Luko plunked his elbows down on the table, his sight of his friend blocked by her dark grey bangs as she pored over a tablet. “Studyin’ still?” he asked, reaching out to swipe the tablet away. “We done graduated already!”

Nyota Saimiri knocked his hand away without even looking up. “We passed our exams. Nothing is official until the ceremony tomorrow. I will not mess this up.”

Isobu let out a sound like a low steam whistle and flopped into the chair across from her, kicking his boots up onto the table and sweeping his pilot’s cap off to dangle it off the back of the chair. Novakid like himself, living starlight that they were, didn’t exactly have vocal cords to make the variety of sounds available to organic life, but that had never held Isobu back. The metal sun-shaped brand that formed his face could produce more than its fair share of effects. “Stop yer frettin’,” he crackled, nudging her ear with one toe. “It’ll go fine. They walked us through more rehearsals than ya got hairs on yer hide.”

Nyota looked up, her dark eyes a warring mix of sternness and amusement. “You need to feel my hairy hide more often if you think one rehearsal and a lecture come even close to matching,” she said.

The Novakid’s light wavered in an unhappy whine. “Three hours! I coulda been feelin’ the breeze instead of listenin’ to ol’ Portia drone.”

That provoked a snort. “Aren’t you usually the one who hangs on her every word, insists we go to every speech she gives?”

“He is,” their friend Marcy sang. “He should start a fan club.” She slid onto the bench next to Nyota and leaning against her arm. It was about as high as she could reach. Marcy was human, and a short one at that, but Nyota was an apex, a tall, furred ape-woman that towered over Marcy and Isobu both. The three had been unlikely friends for nearly six years now, even before they joined the Protectorate together. Tomorrow would be the first time they would be parted since then.

“I just respect the woman, that’s all,” Isobu grumbled. “She did us a kindness, lettin’ us all in here, and I aim to repay it. Finally gettin’ my chance tomorrow.” An excited fizz started bubbling inside him, sending dancing lights across the membrane that acted as his skin.

“Fan club,” Marcy insisted.

Nyota switched the tablet to sleep mode and looked down at Marcy. “Don’t you have exams still?”

Marcy grinned. “I finished mine so they let me out early. Thought I might come and find the pair of you. It’s too gloomy for the Tree, then?”

Isobu flicked an irate hand at the sky. “Look up. Ya see any sunshine there? Only sun out today is yers truly.”

Marcy’s giggle rang cheerfully over Nyota’s low rumbling chuckle. “Alright, Sunshine,” the human teased, earning an irked crackle and a half-hearted kick in her direction. Marcy leaned back out of the way and seized his boot.

“Hey!” Isobu jerked back but only succeeded in getting the boot pulled off. “Give me my damn boot back!”

“You know I wouldn’t keep it,” Marcy said as she tossed it back to him. He pulled it on with a grumble. “So what have you two been up to?”

“She’s studyin’,” Isobu said, pointing at Nyota with all the injured dignity that he could muster.

Nyota switched the tablet back on. “With a tone like that, one might think I sat on your aunt,” she noted mildly.

Isobu waved dismissively. “Ain’t got any. But ya oughta be doin’ somethin’ fun!”

The apex shook her head. “You just want to play another round of ‘paste the novakid.’”

“Nah. I’ve had my fill of sparrin’ for once. Hey–” He broke off with a startled whistle as both women immediately reached out to feel his forehead as if checking for a fever. “Now y’all cut that out! Ya know I run too hot. Par for the course when yer a livin’ star folk.”

“It’s so unlike you to not want to spar with Nyota,” Marcy said, leaning back again.

Isobu flared bright in amusement. “Yeah, sure… But I got bigger things on my mind.” He leaned forward, his glow pulsing slow and steady like a heartbeat. “Let’s have some fun, Nyota. It’s our last day on Earth. We’re off t’see the stars tomorrow. Who knows when ya’ll feel the breeze or see that sun again.”

“Or me,” Marcy said. She sounded suddenly small and sad. “I still wish I could come with you both. I’ve got another year here.”

Nyota shifted to pull Marcy into a soft, strong hug. “Chin up, Marcy. You’ll join us soon enough. It’s only one more semester.”

Marcy leaned into her. “…I’ll miss you.”

“We’ll miss you too,” Nyota murmured, stroking her friend’s hair. “But we can always call when we’re off duty. We’ll tell you all about it.”

“Make sure you do,” Marcy insisted. She tried to sit up; her glasses chain jingled and she fell back against Nyota’s chest with a startled gasp. “Oh no, help! I’m stuck! My glasses are stuck!”

“Hold still,” Nyota told her, laughing as she worked her shirt fabric free of the glasses hinge. “There. I didn’t know you were that desperate for me to stay, Marcy.”

“Oh hush.” Marcy punched Nyota’s shoulder, doing more damage to her own fist than the apex’s muscular arm. “I just can’t wait to go see them up close. The stars, I mean. I’ve never even left Earth, beyond a little vacation to Mars when I was a kid. Nice saloon out there, but I was too young to really remember it well.”

Nyota slipped the tablet back into her bag. “…there is always the chance that I won’t get picked,” she said. The other two could tell that she was trying to keep her tone light. “I’m no specialist like Isobu, and there’s only so much people want for someone who does gardening or general ship work. The ship AI can handle most of that. I might end up staying behind to keep you company.”

“Now you hush.” Isobu leaned forward again, his amber glow focused and deadly serious. “I’ve seen ya learn and grow these past six years, and I’m tellin’ ya, ain’t no way yer gettin’ left behind.”

“They aren’t that desperate for janitors–”

“I said hush.” He reached out to put a hand on her shoulder. “Yer a fighter, Nyota Saimiri. Ain’t too many folks out there like that. Sure, ya get the ones what pick up a sword and smack a monster or two, but they ain’t got it. They ain’t got the heart to put it all on the line. Ya remember that storm, few years back? Marcy ain’t back from class, ya go out to find her, rescuers find the pair of ya hidin’ in the roots of that big ol’ Tree?

Nyota shook her head. “How could I forget?” she asked. “But that doesn’t make me a fighter, Isobu.”

“They told me ya tucked her into yer jacket to keep her warm, went to sleep ‘cause yer folk get hot when ya do, made yerself helpless just to keep her alive. That’s heart.” He shone as bright and confident as the sunset. “And if none of the captains pick ya after the ceremony, I’ll tell ‘em what ya did, see to it that they take ya too. We’ll go together. It’s how we started this mess.”

“You owe me that story sometime, you know,” Marcy said. “Did you really find him in a snowdrift?”

Nyota chuckled again, her slow smile as warm as Isobu’s glow. “I’ll tell you another time,” she promised, standing up. “Come on. We should eat together at least. I don’t know when we’ll get the chance to do that again. Let’s go get some jam.”

-

Isobu caught her at the table again, long after lights out, fast asleep with the tablet still on beside her. He laughed softly, pulled off his long coat, and draped it over her shoulders before reaching over to turn the tablet light off. Studying again. That was just like her. He would tease her about it in the morning. 

“Sleep well, Nyota.”


End file.
